Quotes of the Week

"If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack." 
-- Winston Churchill 

"Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change." 
-- Wayne W. Dyer 

"A sense of humor... is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life." 
-- Hugh Sidey 


"There's a lot of stress out there, and to handle it, you just need to believe in yourself; always go back to the person that you know you are, and don't let anybody tell you any different, because everyone's special and everyone's awesome." 
-- McKayla Maroney 

Packing, Physical Therapy, Birthday Party

I have been very thankful that I had gotten the dejunking bug many months ago and had gotten rid of a lot of stuff at that time. My feet wouldn't have been able to handle it now.

With the never-ending countdown going on each time we sign into the church's website, it is making me quite anxious to get everything done.

This count was several weeks ago. I am now facing the reality that in a few days the big black number will be in double digits. YIKES!!!!!

I have been once again trying to get things cleared out or packed into boxes to prepare for us moving out and Sarah's family moving in. One thing is certain--it sure gets messier before it ever gets cleaner.

Thankfully Glen helped pack up the remainder of Abe's stuff that has been in this bedroom since he moved away.

These Primary/YW file boxes have been hanging out in our closet all these years and have now found a new home in the basement. Sarah wanted the bookshelf moved, so all the photo albums have been packed up. So much stuff!!

I have been trying to not do too much at a time so as to not put too much stress on my feet. I can't carry heavy things, so I've been having Glen haul the boxes to the basement.

Because my toes have been practically paralyzed since surgery, I have recently started going to physical therapy. The therapist pronounced them TERRIBLE! With the exclamation point and everything! I am having issues with swelling in the right foot.

My feet also continue to be very sensitive in the balls of the feet where the neuromas were removed. I keep wondering if my feet will ever get to the point where they don't bother me. I can only hope...

This particular day the therapist did not like the looks of the swelling at all and after the various therapies, he had me lying on a table with my feet propped above me while they were iced.

They are getting more mobile, but I continue to have problems with my big toes floating instead of resting on the ground so they can help balance me. He told me he doesn't know how I have even been able to walk and if I don't get these mobility issues resolved now, I'm going to have major balance issues when I am an old lady.

Moving on to a more appealing subject--birthdays. At the February birthday celebration dinner at Mom and Dad's house, the little children were anxious as usual for the candle/dessert part of the dinner. Eli and Carson were extra interested in lighting the candles.

I was enjoying watching Wes manipulating two cameras during the celebration.

Rachel was up first celebrating her 13th birthday.

 More candle lighting. This time in Jeff's honor.

He let his boys take care of blowing out his candles.

Madison was so frustrated that the candles always got blown out before she could get a chance at them. Rebecca let Madison blow out the candles for her, with Dad trying to block any air coming from her cousins.

Then it was finally Madison's turn to blow out her very own candles. After all, she was turning 2.

And then it was Maggie's turn to blow out her 15 candles. Shout-out to Mark, Thad and Kate who had February birthdays as well.

I was admiring Brooke's beautiful hairdo. She had a bun on top of her head and part of her hair was made into the shape of a bow. Rebecca has been impressing me with her elaborate hair styles on her girls. I couldn't believe the girls would sit still long enough to style some of them. Then I learned the girls love the elaborate ones because the longer it takes their mom to do their hair, the longer they get to play the iPad while she is styling.

Madison was so cute when she came to dinner on her birthday. She had gotten a new purse for her birthday and she so happily kept showing everyone her purse--complete with cell phone and other necessities inside it.

The dinner was in honor of Ben and Haley who had returned from their 7 weeks of training in California. They were here for the weekend. Just long enough to get their moving van all packed up and ready to head off on their next new adventure.

Kudos go out to them for surviving their stay in a hotel room all that time. Most of the time Ben was working the all-night shift and Haley would also stay up all night sewing in the hotel room so she would be on the same sleep schedule as Ben.

They were determined they were going to save as much money as they could those weeks, so they took a crock pot, a rice cooker, and a George Foreman grill and cooked almost all their meals in their room. They didn't get an extended-stay room that had any kind of a kitchenette in it. They only had a small fridge and no microwave.

I admire their determination to save money for the house they were buying. I really admire Haley's desire to support her husband in his job and how she made the best of a not-so-great situation. She is AMAZING!!!

Quotes of the Week

"Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open." 
-- Laura Bush 

"The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace." 
-- Carlos Santana 

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." 
-- John Wayne

 "Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand." 
-- Karl A. Menniger 

Quotes of the Week

"Take your job seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously." 
-- Alex Trebek 

"Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it'll always get you the right ones." 
-- John Lennon

"If an egg is broken by outside force, Life ends. If broken by inside force, Life begins. Great things always begin from inside."
-- Jim Kwik 

"My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time." 
-- Steve Jobs